The leap from idea to minimum viable product (MVP) is never straightforward. When my co-founders and I started HappyPath, we knew we were jumping headfirst into uncharted waters. Prior to HappyPath, none of us had raised a penny of funding, hired teammates without a pre-defined job spec or built a viable business from scratch. Yet there we were, sitting at our dinner table, laptops open, furiously typing in a shared doc, trying to articulate every detail of a product and business we’d only dreamt of.
Throughout the past year, as our team grew from three to nine and our product iterated hundreds of times, we learned that building from scratch isn’t about being right the first time — it’s about failing fast, learning faster, and focusing on the essentials while adapting to a constantly changing landscape. These lessons have shaped our approach, offering insights that may resonate with anyone embarking on the journey of building something from the ground up.
The Importance of the Role-Player
From a young age, I thrived in team environments such as sports, music and schoolwork, driven by a desire to stand out and improve my own abilities. At the time, I didn’t fully understand the value of being a role-player, someone who elevates the collective effort instead of seeking individual recognition.
As I transitioned into my professional career as an engineer and later as a product manager, this individualistic mindset gave way to the pursuit of becoming a “glue guy.” I aspired to be the person who understood the boundaries of my skills and was cognizant of each teammate’s strengths, meticulously learning, blending and arranging to help teams achieve their goals. My managers encouraged this growth, giving me opportunities to lead small teams on projects building tools to facilitate better communication for application support teams.
Going From Dream to MVP
Whether you’re raising your first round of funding, launching a startup from your kitchen table, or helping a team innovate within an established organization, the leap from idea to MVP is daunting. Questions pile up quickly:
What features should we build, and how do we measure success?
When will we be ready to release a beta to real users?
Whom should we hire, and what skills should they bring?
How many people do we actually need?
How to Define an MVP
Building an MVP is like packing for a business trip with an evolving itinerary.
Budget, timelines and team resources became our first set of filters, naturally narrowing our scope. We evaluated every feature under one guiding principle: Does this directly help our users accomplish their most essential tasks? If it didn’t, it was an unnecessary item taken out of the suitcase. This focus freed up space for what truly mattered.
The process of constant prioritization felt ruthless but proved invaluable, with each reduction in scope clarifying and solidifying our MVP vision and product roadmap. As a byproduct of the rigorous feature scrutiny and detailed PRDs, we created a prioritized list of items that included new features or quality-of-life improvements to existing ones, laying the foundation for future growth.
So, How Do You Build Your Team?
Your team is your most important asset in the MVP journey. In the early days of HappyPath, we debated endlessly about hiring: Should we run lean or scale fast? Should we prioritize experience or potential?
Here’s what we learned, captured in the archetypes that define our team:
6 Hiring Archetypes in Software Engineering
The Savant.
The Corporate Beast.
The Rover.
The Conductor(s).
The Seasoned Swiss-Army Knife.
The Junior Powerhouse(s).
Bask in the Process
As you begin your journey, remember that an MVP is not simply a deliverable. Your MVP reflects the team’s ability to focus, adapt and collaborate under pressure. With the right mix of complementary skills and a well-defined North Star, your small team can turn limited resources into meaningful user impact.
When executed properly, good decision-making, paired with a little bit of luck and a relentless effort to understand your users, builds the foundation for long-term growth. Be present with your team, users, and product vision throughout this process; your MVP is proof that small teams, with big ideas, can achieve extraordinary outcomes.
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